dealer wants $2900 for blown turbo

[alfas]

Have a family friend with a 03 pt cruiser turbo. Trying desperately to help her out with getting this down to a more manageable price for the fix needless to say.

She's hit some financial straights and any help would be appreciated to offer up a source for a good, fairly priced used turbo, an idea of what else should be replaced when a turbo goes or what to look for and if luck has it a fairly priced private mechanic anywhere around 20 miles south of downtown chicago proper.

she needs the car running, needs it for less than $2900 the dealer wants and thanks for any hep thats offered up for info an insight.

[Travis2k7]

My neighbor blew up the turbo in his ricemobile a month or so ago.. told me the dealer wanted over 3k...

Said he was going to do it himself and last I saw when I went over last week was 1/2 the engine and exhaust parts spread out all over his garage floor.

Good luck... not sure how the PT turbo is to work on but I hope you find a decent deal.

[03hothemi]

Seems to me that you might be able to get a fairly good used turbo at a salvage yard if you know what to look for: ie: cracks in the housings, excessive oil and carbon build up turbine fin shape and limited shaft end play. You may be able to find a "rebuild" kit inexpensively in order to freshen up the salvage yard turbo. Depending on exactly what went wrong with the original unit, you may only need to replace the turbo itself. It would help to know what the full on diagnosis was, though.

[alfas]

Thanks for that...

Car owner not car savy, I'm the friend that knows cars. I'm info I got over the phone she got from dealer(I know, "stealer") and how she says it's driving.

no acceleration, and LOTS of smoke... dealer said dead turbo

Best I know at this point.

I sourced a used turbo from another forum that I'm trying to put a deal together on to get it here.

The owner has a friend that will do the swap for her who is a diesel mechanic so he should be full well versed in turbo's at the very least.

fingers crossed for this to work.

the forums have been a great help to get this sorted as I know nothing about the PT cruiser she's got.

Thanks to everyone that has posted.

Please also continue any info on the swap that may be important as I can print it to hand off to the mechanic doing this for her...

BIG THANKS AGAIN for all the help

[quicksilverdon]

Welcome.
And when you get it fixed, convince her to only use synthetic oil in it!

[alfas]

Thanks,

She was until the dealer put dino oil in it 2 changes ago, she asked WTH, they said don't worry.

Now this, I'd argue they should foot the bill as I can all but guarantee it contributed at the very least but that isn't going to happen as I'm guessing no way to prove otherwise on a 85k car.

[quicksilverdon]

You're right, but she should never visit that dealer again...

[alfas]

dare I ask what specific oil the factory says to put in one as I mentioned it's not my car and I have NO idea about anything on these cars?

[quicksilverdon]

5w30 - it doesn't demand synthetic, but we all know for a turbo....

[alfas]

Originally Posted by quicksilverdon

5w30 - it doesn't demand synthetic, but we all know for a turbo....

thanks and yes we do...